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Friday, 19 September 2014

Demolishing a Garden Shed - Housework/Funwork 33

Today we are going back to something we had hoped to have done a few months ago but it just was not possible to do so.

The weather stayed good for the first few weeks of this month

and our son was able to get an afternoon off work

when Fred wasn't travelling so

the demolishing of the old wooden garden shed was scheduled for Wednesday.

If not too interested in the details then head on to the end of the post
and watch the short video.

I was ready with the camera as well as old clothes and two other items that I was just excited about having the chance to use for the first time

an AXE and a SLEDGE HAMMER

this was going to be some FUNWORK this time!!!

Equipment needed

Hammer

Crow Bar

Screw Drivers

Axe

Sledge Hammer

Chainsaw

Gloves

Safety Glasses

Face Shield

Wrench

2 Stepladders

The shed had to be replaced because this wooden one was rotting away.

The trees from our neighbour had been overgrown and hanging badly over into our garden since we bought the house 4 years ago and the lower branches had been lying on the roof of the shed and rubbing along the roof during windy weather.

NI is known for it's rain and so with the wet branches rubbing against the roof of the shed we now had a roof with holes in it and the wood was ruined resulting in everything in the shed getting very moldy and dirty and wet.

Our neighbour finally decided to cut off the offending branches but it was too late to save the shed.

So Fred & Daniel started with the roof, got out all the nails from the tar-covered felt and got it off and the rotten wood removed while I unscrewed the hinges of the doors.

Then came my moment.

Fred allowed me to have a few swings at the front of the shed with

the axe and then with the sledgehammer

and then I was happy & left them to do the rest of the knocking down of the shed.

They soon had the front of the shed taken apart and started on the side and this was time for the chainsaw to come into action.

My husband works for a global company who take safety very seriously and so does he so gloves, safety glasses and face protectors were donned from the start.

Another aspect of safety was always to make sure the electric cable of the chainsaw was clear of the saw and other objects and even Daniel knew to keep an eye on this.

With the first side all cut away they started on the other side which was closest to the garden fence .

This picture was taken specifically for me as Fred had to bend over to get right down through the wood with the saw.

(Well there had to be some more FUN in all this WORK for me and not just getting to wield an axe and a sledgehammer.)

With the second side completed they were on to the back of the shed. Which they lifted off the base in one piece and

then proceeded to cut into narrow strips. But this was not the end of the shed.

There was still the floor of the shed and they first had to remove all the edging of wood around the base.

I knew that the previous owners had left some things behind the shed where the oil tank sits but I was surprised to find that there were:

3 white plastic planters,

3 white plastic oil containers,

a football,

2 brush heads,

a brush shaft,

2 swing seats with ropes

and a large red sledge

plus many planks of wood

and strips of old skirting board.

Then the first plank from the floor of the shed was removed

and Fred cut the rest of the floor in two with the chainsaw so that they could lift each half up on it's end and cut it as they had the sides.

You can see from this picture just how much damage had been done to the floor of the shed from the rain getting through the roof.

Well now the shed was all cut up but that wasn't the end of the job.

All the pieces of the shed and the junk found behind it had to be got rid of.

So it was on to the phone to order a skip to be delivered the next morning to take all the rubbish.

All of this was done in 2 and a half hours;

including two breaks for drinks and fruit and biscuits to keep the workers happy and because they needed it, as we were all getting rather hot

working in 19 degrees that afternoon.

Now there was another piece of equipment that Fred had used and that was the new time lapse video app on his iPad. He set up a stand to hold the iPad and videoed the whole event.

Thankfully because of the time lapse aspect of it we only had to watch around 4 mins of video which you can also watch below & see me having a few swings at the shed with that axe and sledge hammer.

Hard work but fun! I'll bet you found some good uses for some of that wood! Recently, a tree branch fell on our wood shed and cracked part of the roof and eave -- so we had to fix and shingle! Fortunately it only hit the overhang and no damage was done inside :)

I didn't think your shed looked so back until I saw that end piece you pointed out. I have a big tree overhanging my house's roof, and last year I could hear it scrapping again the house (i.e. roof). Luckily, my ex-husband and I were still on speaking term, and I paid him to go up there and cut off branches before it injured my roof (I did clean-up!) Your shed was cute... {:-D